Hamas says it will release American-Israeli hostage Edan Alexander on
Monday
[May 12, 2025]
By WAFAA SHURAFA, SAMY MAGDY and TIA GOLDENBERG
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — An American-Israeli soldier taken
captive and held for more than 19 months in the Gaza Strip is expected
to be released on Monday, Hamas said, as part of a good will gesture for
the Trump administration that could lay the groundwork for a new
ceasefire between the warring sides.
Edan Alexander was snatched from his military base in southern Israel
during Hamas' cross-border attack on Oct. 7, 2023, which set off the war
in Gaza. His expected release would be the first since Israel shattered
an 8-week ceasefire with Hamas in March when it unleashed fierce strikes
on Gaza which have killed hundreds.
Israel has also promised to intensify its offensive, including by
seizing the territory and displacing much of its population again.
Before the ceasefire's demise, Israel blocked all imports from entering
the war-ravaged Palestinian enclave, deepening a humanitarian crisis
there. Israel says the steps are meant to pressure Hamas to accept a
ceasefire agreement on Israel's terms.
Israel says that, including Alexander, 59 hostages remain in captivity,
about 24 who are said to be alive and the remaining are deceased. Many
of the 250 hostages taken by Hamas-led militants in the 2023 attack were
freed in ceasefire deals.
Trump says the expected release is ‘hopefully’ a step toward ending
the war
After announcing on Sunday its intention to release Alexander, Hamas
said in a statement on Monday that the handover would occur later in the
day. Israeli authorities did not respond to requests for comment on the
timing of the release.
U.S. President Donald Trump, who is set to arrive in the Middle East on
Tuesday on his first official foreign trip, said Sunday that the planned
release is “a step taken in good faith towards the United States and the
efforts of the mediators — Qatar and Egypt — to put an end to this very
brutal war and return ALL living hostages and remains to their loved
ones.”
“Hopefully this is the first of those final steps necessary to end this
brutal conflict. I look very much forward to that day of celebration!”
Trump said on his social media platform Truth Social.
Trump, who is travelling to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab
Emirates, is not scheduled to stop in Israel.
An Israeli official said that Trump envoy Steve Witkoff was expected in
Israel on Monday and would meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu's security Cabinet to discuss nuclear talks with Iran and
efforts to free more hostages. The official spoke on condition to of
anonymity in line with regulations.
Alexander’s family, which is based in the U.S., was on route to Israel,
according to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, a group
representing the captives’ families.
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Varda Ben Baruch holds a picture of her grandson Edan
Alexander, who is held hostage in Gaza, gathers with other families
to call out on loudspeakers in hopes that their loved ones will hear
them, near the Gaza border in Kibbutz Nir Oz, southern Israel, April
20, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg, File)
Israel says it still plans to escalate its offensive in Gaza
On Monday, a statement from Netanyahu's office said Alexander's
release was expected, without indicating timing, and that Israel was
not granting any concessions for it.
The statement said Israel did not commit to a ceasefire or to free
Palestinian prisoners as part of the release and that it had only
agreed to create a “safe corridor” to allow for Alexander to be
returned.
The statement said Israel would still carry on with its plans to
ramp up its offensive in Gaza despite the expected hostage release.
Israel says it won't launch that plan until after Trump's visit to
the Middle East this week, to allow for a potential new ceasefire
deal to emerge.
A statement by the office on Sunday said the U.S. had told Israel
that Alexander's release could lead to a new deal with Hamas to free
more hostages.
Netanyahu faces criticism for not freeing all the hostages
Israel’s exact involvement in getting the release off the ground
wasn’t immediately clear. But it created a backlash against
Netanyahu, with critics accusing him of having to rely on a foreign
leader to help free the remaining hostages.
At the opening of his trial for alleged corruption, where he is
giving testimony, a woman in the courtroom asked whether he was
"ashamed that the president of the United States is saving his
citizens and he is leaving them to die there in captivity?”
Critics accuse Netanyahu of not doing enough to free the hostages,
saying his insistence on keeping up the war in Gaza is politically
motivated. Netanyahu says he aims to achieve Israel's twin war
goals, freeing the hostages and dismantling
Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people and took 250 captive in the
2023 attack.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed over 52,800 Palestinians,
many of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health
Ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were combatants or
civilians. It obliterated vast swaths of Gaza's urban landscape and
displaced 90% of the population, often multiple times.
___
Magdy reported from Cairo and Goldenberg from Tel Aviv, Israel.
Associated Press writer Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel,
contributed to this report.
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